Game, Set, Death One Shot
by LAeyeball
Summary: The angels are brought in to investigate accidents and murder at a top tennis tournament.


**This is a one-shot scene which I think could have happened after Sabrina convinced Arlo Spinner to hand his gun over. I think that scene was underrated and could have been given more attention with a follow-up scene. **

**I've only just thought this one up, and it's been buzzing round my head while I've been trying to finish my current fic, so I thought - the sooner I publish this, the sooner I finish the other! Hope you enjoy! -)**

Disclaimer: Rights to series and characters owned by Spelling and Goldberg.

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><p>"I didn't want this to happen, you understand, I - I'm sorry about it,…" Arlo stammered, "…especially for you Sabrina…" he tried to explain, tried to make them understand.<p>

"Yeah, uh, I know Arlo…you're crazy about me right…we're two of a kind, made for each other!" Sabrina joked a little, wondering if she could keep Arlo on her side, keep him from doing what ever he had planned next for them…even firing the gun he had pointed at all three of them. Kris sneaked a look to her left at Kelly, then Sabrina.

Sabrina continued to stare straight at Arlo.

"I guess it must be different for you to have to do your own dirty work, huh?" She pushed a little, her hands in the air still. "I mean, Fisk usually does this kind of thing for you, doesn't he?"

Arlo's brow crumpled and he looked suddenly very unsure and afraid.

"Don't don't talk that that!" He waved his free hand in the air, as if he could wave the whole situation away. He wasn't a killer… was he?

"And the bottom line is still," Sabrina interrupted his thoughts and continued to push Arlo, "you're the smallest kid on the block Arlo, right?"

Arlo's demeanour changed and his anger flared. "You don't say that!" He spat, jabbing a finger at Sabrina.

"You're still trying to fill daddy's shoes!" Sabrina was trying to convince him.

"I did fill 'em - I - I made it, you know I did!" Arlo almost pleaded.

"No Arlo, you know you didn't."

"I can!" Arlo seemed to be trying to convince himself, unsure of himself again. "And I will!"

"It's just talk, Arlo! I mean, don't you understand that? That's all it is," Sabrina shook her head, to emphasise her point, "it's just talk! It doesn't mean anything! It's just talk." She shook her head slightly again and saw that Arlo was wavering. She shrugged her shoulders slightly at him. Maybe this was the make or break point.

Kelly and Kris looked on, wondering what Spinner was going to do next with the pistol he still had them covered with.

"I want you to stop it. See?" Sabrina took a small step forwards and brought her hand down and held it out towards Arlo.

"I want you to stop it - I want you to give me the gun."

Arlo brought his hand back palm up towards Sabrina, and directed the gun squarely at her.

"No, no stay there, don't - don't move. I don't wanna have to use this, but I will." Arlo kept the gun on Sabrina.

"No, no you won't. No" She replied softly. She could see the indecision plain as day on Arlo's face and just hoped and prayed she was playing him right. She knew Spinner was no push over, yet somehow she knew this was how it needed to go. She kept her hand held out towards him.

"Because if you could have…" She shrugged again at Arlo, "…you already would have." She hoped her logical persuasion was having some effect on Spinner.

"Please Sabrina, Please. I don't want - I don't wanna have to…" Arlo struggled for self control.

",,,You don't have to do anything Arlo." She took another step towards him. "You don't have to do anything except give me that gun, you understand?"

Sabrina kept stepping closer towards Arlo, talking quietly, gently, trying to distract him from actually using the gun.

"It's the only thing you have to do…"

Arlo seemed to look with remorse at Sabrina, and his finger tightened on the trigger. Sabrina continued to look Arlo in the eye. If she lost eye contact, it could all be over.

"It's the only thing you have to do." She repeated in a whisper, shaking her head towards Arlo in her refusal to back down. Her heart raced as she took another step towards the gun pointed at her chest.

Kris and Kelly watched, barely able to breathe. Kris looked from the gun, to Arlo's face and back again. She was ready to move fast. Sabrina's life was hanging in the balance and all it would take was one wrong move, one wrong word.

"Please Arlo." Sabrina reached him and stretched her hand right up to the gun.

"Please." She repeated, her voice soft and persuasive.

Arlo pulled his free hand back up to join his other hand on the gun, and Bri thought for a terrifying second that he had found new nerve from somewhere.

But he pulled the gun upwards away from her and she was struck with the sickening thought that Spinner might turn the gun on himself. Had she pushed him too far?

"Please." She repeated, softly but firmly, her hand still outstretched.

Arlo couldn't do it. He wasn't a cold hearted killer.

He gave in, his face crumpling. He offered her the gun. Sabrina took it and passed it quickly behind her to Kelly, a quick sigh of relief escaping her.

"I'm sorry, you know?" Spinner was feeling more and more sorry for himself.

"It was Fisk, see? He - he was just supposed to scare everybody, and then - and then - " he stammered " - and then it got all out of control. You understand?" He finished, wanting Sabrina to forgive him.

"Yeah, I know." Sabrina allowed him a slight look of understanding before her own emotions began to replace her sympathy.

Kelly kept the gun on Spinner and Kris also let out a sigh of relief, just wanting this whole mess to end.

The police arrived shortly after being contacted from Kris's car and all three girls assisted with enquiries and statements back in town. Then Kris and Bosley decided to stay and watch the end of the afternoon tournament, while Kelly and Sabrina headed back to the hotel.

Once in the room, Sabrina walked over to one of the beds and sat down, easing her shoes off with a groan. Kelly watched her from where she stood, removing her jacket, by a table in the middle of the room.

"Boy, I never knew tennis could be so intriguing!" Sabrina joked, stretching and rubbing at her tense neck muscles.

"So Bri, just how did you know Arlo wasn't going to shoot you, back there?" Kelly asked, her tone deceptively neutral as she walked over to Sabrina.

Sabrina looked up. "Huh? Oh, I dunno, I mean - I didn't know what he was going to do at first…" Sabrina seemed to think things over.

"So you took a pretty big risk?" Kelly stopped a foot or so away from the bed and looked down at Bri, wanting her to stop what she was doing and look at her.

Sabrina did exactly that.

"Look, I don't know what you mean Kel, but I'm tired and…"

"I mean, I think you're actions were a little… maverick…" Kelly wasn't letting this go.

"Maverick?" Sabrina half grinned, wondering if her friend was joking.

"Okay, how about - reckless!" Kelly was becoming impatient with Bri.

I mean, Sabrina," Kelly used her full name, indicating her seriousness, "Arlo Spinner could have shot you point blank when you decided to take him on - and that would have been that! Bang, you're dead!"

Kelly's voice was not loud, but was full of meaning.

Sabrina was shocked at Kelly's sudden attack. She stood up and faced Kelly.

"Now wait a minute…" She began, but Kelly stopped her.

"No Bri, you wait a minute! You just said yourself, you didn't know what he was going to do at first! Maybe he was just going to knock us out and leave us there, so he could get away…." Kelly shrugged. "…I mean, that's what he was trying to do when we caught up with him - he was running, he wasn't killing!"

"So what…" Sabrina countered, crossly "…you wanted us to just let him get away?" She threw her arms open wide as she made her point.

"Well it would be preferable to you getting shot to death - or even me and Kris for that matter!" Kelly replied, heatedly. Sabrina wasn't prepared for this. Kelly took advantage of the moments silence.

"Don't you get it Bri? You just took no consideration for life, back there! Certainly not your own!

It was the same with the smuggled diamonds in the frog, case, remember? When Jill was around? You left me, Jill and Bosley and went to that warehouse all by yourself!" Kelly was in full swing now.

"You should have waited for us Bri! You had no back up! You could have been killed! Dammit, those two hired goons were shot in the back of the head! They were murdered right in front of you and you were almost next!" Kelly slammed her point home, her voice almost cracking, and waited for Sabrina to respond. Sabrina's eyes narrowed and she inhaled in more shock.

"Just what the hell are you talking about, Kelly? That's ancient history!" Sabrina cried exasperated.

"And with Spinner, I did what I thought was right to save _all_ our lives! Don't _you _get it? Spinner had us all - he could have done anything he wanted!" She finished, her anger now brimming at Kelly. She just couldn't understand what the heck this was all about. Just why was Kelly going off on one?

"But you said it yourself, back there Sabrina! You said it to Arlo! If he was going to shoot you, or any of us, he would have done it already! But you changed the odds when you stuck your neck out!" Kelly's voice was now raised with her own emotions. The moment Sabrina stepped over to Arlo and he switched his aim at her chest, replayed again in her mind.

"Have a little care for your own life!" Kelly almost shouted at Sabrina, forcing the tension in the air into another gear. "Have a little care for those around you!"

"Now don't you dare, Kelly Garrett!" Sabrina rounded on Kelly. "Just don't you _dare_!" She pointed her finger angrily at her friend. "I _care!_ I care about you guys! How _dare _you say I don't!" Sabrina set her hands on her hips, her own anger now about to boil over.

Kelly looked back at Sabrina.

"Do you know how much Kris and I care about _you_, Sabrina? Do you? Do you know how much we both love you?"

"W-what?" Sabrina stammered. "Of course I do!" But Sabrina was yet shocked again, to hear Kelly's words, and the wind went out of her sails.

Kelly wasn't convinced either. "I don't think you do, Bri." She replied, her voice more quiet now. "Why is it so hard for you?" Kelly took another step up to Sabrina, holding her eye contact.

"I care about you, Sabrina Duncan." Kelly's voice was softer now. "Kris does. We all do. We all care about you and love you!"

All the fight had suddenly gone out of Sabrina. She felt foolish, somehow. She lowered her gaze from Kelly, and turned, walking over to the table. She stopped, resting her hands on the back of a chair and kept her back to Kelly.

"I wish that wasn't so hard for you to hear." She heard Kelly say from behind her. She heard Kelly's footsteps come across the room to her. Damn. She just was not prepared for any of this. She suddenly felt trapped and foolish for letting herself be trapped. She turned to Kelly, who had again, approached her.

Kelly, this was just another job! We've all just solved another case together and…" she tried to placate Kelly, tried to avoid the angle she realised Kelly was coming from. One she really didn't want to face right now.

"No, Bri, we didn't. No." Kelly looked intently at Bri. "You stuck your neck out on your own again, in spite of our being a team. Bri, please, will you stop having so little regard for your own life?" Kelly's voice was even and soft, but insistent.

"Please?"

Sabrina felt suddenly like the tables had weirdly turned on her. She now felt like Arlo, trying to act tough with a gun, but knowing somewhere deep inside, that she wasn't all that tough. And someone in front of her was trying to strip away some layers. She felt hot tears prick behind her eyes, but she was damned if she was going to let them fall.

Kelly saw a haunted look on Sabrina's face, saw raw emotion that she hadn't seen in a long time, and knew she'd finally gotten through. It was enough. She embraced her friend warmly.

"Thanks Sabrina." She whispered.

"I'm sorry." Sabrina whispered back, and Kelly knew she meant it.


End file.
